Hammer guard



March 24, 1959 D. M. AUCHARD HAMMER GUARD Filed Sept. 2o. 1957 INVENTOR. DWIGHT/l4 406/1420 ,4 ram/av nited States Patent O HAMMER GUARD Dwight M. Auchard, Anaheim, Calif. Application September 20, 1957, Serial No. 685,335

I .2 Claims. c1. 1-26o This invention relates to a newand improved hammer guard. More specifically it relates to a hammer guard which is especially formed so as to be capable of being used in placing nails within woodwork without causing hammer marks to appear upon such woodwork.

The so-called Do It Yourself" movement has gained great momentum in the United States at the present time because of the relatively high cost of labor for many household repairs and construction projects. Also, this Do It Yourself movement has gained a great deal of importance at the present time because of the fact the average American worker has considerable leisure time and money which can be easily devoted to such repairs and improvements. Since wood is a commonly available material for construction purposes, a large proportion of the so-called Do It Yourself projects involve the construction of rooms, walls, paneling, or the like, out of wood.

The average Do It Yourself" enthusiast is anything but an experienced carpenter, although the average individual attempting such projects at least imagines himself as fully proficient in the art of carpentry. As a result of this lack of skill and training in carpentry, many home construction projects are, to use the vernacular, botched up. Frequently these projects are unacceptable from a professional viewpoint because of the fact that a large number of hammer marks will appear in the wood adjacent to where various nails are utilized. Bluntly, the average individual is not considered to have sufiicient skill and experience to pound nails without frequently marring the wood adjacent to these nails.

An object of this present invention is to provide a new and improved hammer guard of a specific design to be used in preventing marks which would normally occur when nails are driven with a hammer. Another object of the present invention is to provide a hammer guard of this type which is easily and inexpensively constructed by various known techniques such as known molding injection processes. A still further object of the present invention is to provide a hammer guard which is adapted to fit against a piece of wood, and which includes means whereby this hammer guard may be held in place by the same hand used to support a nail as it is being driven, and which includes guide means for use as the nail itself is driven.

Because of-the nature of this invention, it is not considered necessary to set forth in more detail various other objects and advantages of the invention inasmuch as such other objects and advantages of the invention will be fully apparent to those skilled in the field to which this invention pertains from a detailed consideration of the remainder of this specification, including the appended claims and the accompanying drawing in which;

Fig. l is a perspective view showing the use of the hammer guard of this invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of a hammer guard shown in Fig. l; and

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of this hammer guard, this figure being partially in section.

In all figures of the drawing like numerals are used to designate like parts whenever convenient for purposes of illustrationand explanation. It is to be understood the accompanying drawing is not to be taken as limiting, this invention in'any respect. It will be obvious to those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains that a' wide variety of differently appearing hammer guards may be manufactured which utilize the essential principles orv I features of this invention. It will be further realized that, hammer guards constructed so as to have sizes and shapes which differ from the precise size and shape of the preferred construction illustrated can be used as herein described.

'As an aid-to understanding this invention, it stated in essentiallysumma ry form it involves hammer.

guards, each of which is formed so as to include a body having ends; at least one hole in one of said ends; and means for holding said member in place at the other of said ends.

As will be obvious from a careful consideration of the accompanying drawing in which there is illustrated a preferred hammer guard 10 of the present invention, this hammer guard may be formed out of a single piece of material. Preferably this hammer guard is formed out of transparent or translucent, tough material capable of withstanding hammer blows and absorbing these blows so that the wood located beneath this hammer guard is not marked. The complete hammer guard 10 may be easily manufactured as one single unitary piece of appropriate injection molding techniques, using certain grades of commercially available polyethylene, nylon or the like. For the purpose of this invention, it is presently preferred the manufacture of hammer guard 10 be out of a grade of polyethylene which is sufficiently translucent so as in elfect to be transparent when of a nominal thickness. Clear polyethylene is preferred for this purpose since the use of dye within polyethylene will tend to obstruct the view of boards or the like beneath the hammer guard 10.

Those skilled in the art to which this invention pertains will also realize the hammer guard herein constructed may be formed out of several different parts attached to one another.

The hammer guard 10 consists of a flat body 12 having an enlarged end 14 and small end 16. This body has a fiat under-surface 18. Within the enlarged end 14 there are formed a plurality of holes 20 which may be spaced in any convenient pattern. These holes are preferably slightly larger than common nails so that nails may be moved or hammered through them. Upon the small end 16 of the body 12 there is located an upstanding ridge 22 having a longitudinally extending hole 24 formed therein. It is noted that this hole 24 preferably extends parallel to the under-surface 18.

The hole 24 is adapted to be engaged by the small finger 26 of the hand 28 of an individual using the hammer guard 10. As illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawing, in this use the hammer guard 10 may be held in place while simultaneously a nail 30 may be held in a desired location for hammering by the thumb and forefinger 32 of the same hand. After the nail has been started, of course, the thumb and forefinger may be removed from it; preferably the hammer guard is left in place until such time as the nail is substantially driven. At this point the hammer guard may be slid upward over the nail and the nail may be finally driven into place through the use of a nail set of a known type.

When the hammer guard 10 is used in the manner shown inaccurate blows of the hammer will be absorbed Patented Mar. 24, 1959 very effective tool for the-purpose intended. They will further realize a number of departures may be made from the preferable embodiment of the invention illustrated without departing from the effective principles or features ofthis invention. They will also 'realize that appropriate advertising indicia, or the like; may, if desired, be placed upon the hammer guard 10 without For these reasons,

destroying its utilitarian character. this "invention is to be'considered as bythe appended claims.

being' limited" only 1. A'hammer guard formed out'of'a single piece of:

tough material capable of withstanding and absorbing hammer blows, said single piece of material having a Hat body formed so as to have an enlarged end and a small end, said enlarged end having a plurality of holes formed therein so as to extend between the sides of 'said' body, said small end having'jan upstanding ridge located thereon, said ridge having a longitudinally extending hole formed therein, said longitudinally extending hole being adapted to be engaged by the small finger of the hand of an individual so as to hold said hammer guard T in position while simultaneouslya nail may be held by the thumb and forefinger of the hand so as to project through any one of said plurality of said holes.

2. A hammer guard as defined in claim 1 wherein said material is a transparent plastic.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,016,383 Wellman Feb. 6, 1912 2,799,860 Myers July 23, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 5,414 Great Britain Mar.- 13, 1893' 827,926- Germany Jan.-14, 

